The Japanese police have arrested a woman and her boyfriend for allegedly forcing her teenage daughter to eat 30 poisoned goldfish. The case highlights the rise of child abuse incidents in the country.
The Guardian reported that Yuko Ogata and her partner, Takeshi Egami, poisoned the fish using detergent. Ogata, together with her boyfriend, allegedly forced her 16-year-old daughter to eat the dead fish one by one.
According to sources, the incident took place last year at the couple's home in Fukuoka. Despite the fact that the teen, whose name is withheld, did not suffer any health damage. The incident has recently garnered media attention due to the rising number of child abuse cases in Japan.
The force-feeding incident was only a part of the series of abuses that Ogata allegedly committed to her daughter. She is also facing charges for burning her daughter's tongue with lit cigarette, striking her in the face and tying her to a bed.
Ogata has reportedly admitted the forced-feeding incident while Egami denied the allegations. The couple has already been arrested four times since last year for several child abuse complaints.
The alleged abuse is one of the disturbing cases that have gained widespread media coverage in Japan this week. According to The Japan Times, a government survey showed that as of March 2015, child welfare authorities had already dealt almost 90,000 child abuse cases in the country.
The survey recorded the biggest rise of child abuse cases with an increase of 20.5 percent compared to the previous year. Statistics showed that a total of 21 children died after the physical abuse, while nine ended up being neglected.
Tetsuro Tsuzaki, head of the Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect, told The Japan Times that the number of abuse cases in the country was "likely to continue increasing." He blamed the record-high figure to several factors such as increased poverty, growing number of step families and isolation of some families.
